Browsed byTag: frugal

I have never been what people would consider an optimist. I’ve never been able to look at anything and see the happy shiny pieces in anything much less a flaming bag of poop on my doorstep. On the other side, I could never bring myself to be ok with being called a pessimist. Oh world, there are so many bad things but I know there is good in you…right? When people ask I would say that I wasn’t a pessimist…

When Ms. Blue Ribbon and I started on the path to being debt free the one thing I can know for sure that helped speed it along was using a cash budget. We didn’t use cash for everything, just the four major troubled spots in our budget: Groceries, Gas/Fuel, Eating Out, and Miscellaneous Items. Everything else was recurring/fixed expenses like utilities or insurance. Like many, eating out was a massive drain on our budget. We love eating out but I’ve…

This article may contain affiliate links. Read our disclaimer. As I drove to work the other morning it finally dawned on me that I have been driving my Nissan Leaf for over a year. (For whatever reason it wasn’t when I renewed the tabs.) One year with an electric car has changed a lot about my day-to-day life. I thought it may be interesting to share some of the things you never think about when you drive a gas car….

We have had two windfalls in our lives. The first was when Ms. Blue Ribbon’s grandmother passed away. The money we inherited was used to pay off some new windows on our house (naturally, we financed them). It wasn’t much and wasn’t expected but I feel like we used the money wisely. The second windfall we received was $20k from a family friend who had passed away. This was considerably more and we took our time figuring out exactly what…

What a long strange trip it has been. 2017 seemed to just fly by (a true sign I’m getting older). 2017 brought many things in our household. A new baby, a new side project (this site), plenty of goals, and major financial milestones. If you want to read more about them take a look at Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 updates. Otherwise, let me tell you about this last quarter. October Quite a busy month. We blew through a lot of our…

When I was a kid I didn’t get to go to the library often. Sure we had a kid-centric one in my elementary school but rarely did I go to the public library. Living out in the country there were things that I didn’t get to do very often just by the fact that I needed to be driven 10 minutes in and 10 minutes out. The library in my hometown was beautiful. As you walked in it opened up…

This article may contain affiliate links. Read our disclaimer. Being a grown-up is expensive. Even more expensive when you decide to have a family. The money you were so accustomed to spending on yourself is now being divided amongst those who are now in your family. This statement is true if you have a small child or a teenager. Where you spend your money changes as your family grows and as the needs of your family changes. Figuring Out What…

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was the main problem when it came to our finances. When we started dating Ms. Blue Ribbon was working at a shoe store and substitute teaching (Slightly different from me working as a software developer). She was naturally frugal by habit and necessity. Making all her meals at home (noodles and tuna salad sandwiches mostly). She occasionally treated herself to Culver’s once in awhile. I on the other hand rarely…

This article may contain affiliate links. Read our disclaimer. Google loves to try new things constantly (something I can more than get on board with). I love when companies try things for the sake of trying even if it fails. This one is far from a failure. I used to be on a family plan with my parents, in order to save money, but Ms. Blue Ribbon and I were getting sick of the family drama that comes with it….

I never knew someone could use the word “why” so many times in one day until my son became a toddler… “Car parked on road why?” “Guy running why?” “Dada tired why?” I could go on…why? That is when it hit me, ok a toy hit me but you get the idea, Mini Donut was asking the right questions. Why you ask…exactly! … I’ll elaborate. What your toddler can teach you You have your budget and you have your financial…